This week we’ve had a surprising guest. A tiny little bird who bounced up and down all day long on the hydrangea outside the kitchen. We thought he was a baby and we were concerned that he couldn’t fly because he just went back and fourth from the twigs to the window sill. We kept Fiona in the house and hoped his mother would come for him.
On the second morning, Mr RH announced he had called him Rob.
On the third morning he was nowhere to be seen and we sadly assumed he hadn’t survived the night :(
But when I came in Mr RH said Fiona had been staring through the window at Ronald. “Ronald?” I asked, “Do you mean Mr Smartie?” (Mr Smartie is the cat from across the road, who, on occasion, disagrees with Fiona about who owns our garden).
“No, Ronald“, he said.
So, it turned out the little bird could fly after all and could come and go at will. And come and go he does. Every now and then I see him bobbing about and every now and then I hear Mr RH call out, “Reg is back!”
After some discussion with my parents, we discovered he is not a baby at all but an adult Goldcrest (the UK’s smallest bird) – possibly an adult female Goldcrest…”Ah, Regina!” concluded Mr RH or perhaps Roberta or Rowena…
Should you be interested, you can discover better pictures and some interesting facts about Goldcrests (though not the personal names of individuals) below.
Inside the Makery Country Birds have also been a theme. This time, I have been knitting with West Yorkshire Spinners Signiture 4ply in Owl. Having concluded that self striping yarn really needs to be knitted in the round, I wanted to make a cowl in owl – mainly because I like how that rhymes!
And the colouring worked out quite evenly.
But the pattern really didn’t show up well so I frogged and knitted a pair of socks instead. I, foolishly, gifted the socks on the promise of receiving a photo from Son #1, who merrily walked away in them. Perhaps I will show them to you one day.
I the meantime, I have a kitchen full of vegetable and flower seeds growing out of control and, after a beautifully mild month, frost is now forecast, maybe snow!
I hope you have a lovely week, whatever the weather :)
Janine @ Rainbow Hare
RAINBOW HARE 
Sandra :)
A cowl in owl – that made me howl … with a scowl! *scowl only for rhyming purposes – I’m more likely to howl with laughter than the howl with a scowl!* That owl colour is exactly the colour I told hubby tonight, that I want for new kitchen counters – love it! RobRonaldRegReginaRobertaRowena is very (pretty or handsome, depending on his/her/it’s personal choice in pronoun – I’m not judging!) :)
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Sigrid Swinnen
How wonderful about the little bird! Nice to read that you’re the same kind of animal lover as I am :-) I could spend hours looking at the birds outside :-)
We only have magpies and chews that come close to the window, but in the garden I often spot little birds like tits and sparrows, yet not a goldcrest.
I hope your goldcrest will find a partner and have lots of babies :-)
About the knitting: very nice try that rhyming cowl and son has warm feet again!
Have a great Sunday,
Sigrid
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Kim Sharman
A “cowl in owl”….love the sound of that! Pretty wool. Whatever the name of your sweet little bird, he/she is pretty. So glad that Fiona could only enjoy on the other side of that window.
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Celtic Thistle Stitches
What a delightful sight outside your window Janine. We have more seagulls than you can shake a stick at outside ours, with sometimes detrimental results for the windows and our cars :)
Nice to know that your son appreciates your knitting too!
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Carol
Such a pretty little bird. You KNOW we are a pair of bird watchers. Our smallest bird in the USA is a hummingbird, only a couple of inches long with the fastest wings on the planet or at least in the bird world. So funny that you gave that little critter “R” names. We are just now getting Spring temperatures. It might be 70 today and our normal is 63 for this time of year. I’ll be outside pulling weeds.
xx, Carol
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Marion
What a lovely cradle. Looks even better painted. Your feathered friend is cute. That wool would make a good knitted hedgehog.
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soma @ whimsandfancies.com
The post made me howling with laughter :)
LOVE it!! I had to share it with my husband. The tiny little thing had no idea that it was the centre of so much amusement. I am glad Fiona was able to enjoy the show from inside only. That is a magnificent tree, Janine. I hope the weather turns clement for you again.
-Soma
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Mandy Fell
I want a cowl in owl too! So I see it magically turned to socks. Funny how that happens. The yarn was nice though. I hope you get to have a look at it going by again sometime.
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Sharmayne
I had to drop over for a quick visit ……seems my iPad is not downloading all your lovely photos, but interesting to read all about this ….I’ll be back when I have a bit more time
Hugs sharm
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Flashinscissors
I love your photos of “R”!
I was watching your Goldcrest video, and thoroughly enjoying the fact that it identified each individual birdsong, when one of our little cats burst through the cat flap and started searching the house, she was convinced the birds must have been somewhere indoors! She was most disappointed when she couldn’t find any!
BTW I had to look twice at the tree photo …… it looks just like a mirror image of one of mine on my blog, except yours has a building in the distance!
Cowl in owl …… so funny!
Barbara x
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